Furrow Maker

Lord Dunsany (1878-1957), Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett

George P. Landow created this formatted version of The Book of Wonder, which was first oublished in 1915, using the Project Gutenberg text produced by Anne Reshnyk, Suzanne L. Shell, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

He was all in black, but his friend was dressed in brown, members
of two old families.

"Is there any change in the way you build your houses?" said he in
black.

"No change," said the other. "And you?"

"We change not," he said.

A man went by in the distance riding a bicycle.

"He is always changing," said the one in black, "of late almost every
century. He is uneasy. Always changing."

"He changes the way he builds his house, does he not?" said the
brown one.

"So my family say," said the other. "They say he has changed of late."

"They say he takes much to cities?" the brown one said.

"My cousin who lives in belfries tells me so," said the black one.
"He says he is much in cities."

"And there he grows lean?" said the brown one.

"Yes, he grows lean."

"Is it true what they say?" said the brown one.

"Caw," said the black one.

"Is it true that he cannot live many centuries?"

"No, no," said the black one. "Furrow-maker will not die. We must
not lose furrow-maker. He has been foolish of late, he has played
with smoke and is sick. His engines have wearied him and his cities
are evil. Yes, he is very sick. But in a few centuries he will forget
his folly and we shall not lose furrow-maker. Time out of mind he
has delved and my family have got their food from the raw earth
behind him. He will not die."

"But they say, do they not?" said the brown one, "his cities are
noisome, and that he grows sick in them and can run no longer, and
that it is with him as it is with us when we grow too many, and the
grass has the bitter taste in the rainy season, and our young grow
bloated and die."

"Who says it?" replied the black one.

"Pigeon," the brown one answered. "He came back all dirty.
And Hare went down to the edge of the cities once. He says it
too. Man was too sick to chase him. He thinks that Man will die,
and his wicked friend Dog with him. Dog, he will die. That nasty
fellow Dog. He will die too, the dirty fellow!"

"Pigeon and Hare!" said the black one. "We shall not lose
furrow-maker."

"Who told you he will not die?" his brown friend said.

"Who told me!" the black one said. "My family and his have
understood each other times out of mind. We know what follies
will kill each other and what each may survive, and I say that
furrow-maker will not die."

"He will die," said the brown one.

"Caw," said the other.

And Man said in his heart: "Just one invention more. There is
something I want to do with petrol yet, and then I will give it all
up and go back to the woods."